(Because this is from the NY Times and some may not be able to view the article, it is in PDF at the bottom of the post)The History of Irish Clockmaking? All but Forgotten, a Dealer Says

Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times

DUBLIN — Ireland was a hub for clockmakers in the 18th century, a fact often forgotten in the current industry focus on technological innovation and high-end collaborations.

Also, the country’s earliest records of watchmakers were destroyed in the early 1920s during the conflict that surrounded the creation of Northern Ireland, so details are elusive. (The 1901 census showed 690 watchmakers and 36 clockmakers in Dublin alone.)

“It’s basically detective work,” said Kevin Chellar, a horologist and proprietor of Timepiece Antique Clocks here. He has spent three decades finding and restoring antique Irish clocks and researching their makers. Fittingly, his small, crowded shop is in the former clockmakers’ quarter between the cathedrals of St. Patrick and Christ Church, in the old Viking settlement area of Wood Quay.

Such clocks are rare — he now has three, the first time he has had so many at once — so they account for only about 10 percent of Mr. Chellar’s business, which primarily focuses on British and European clocks. But, he added, the Irish clocks “elevate the status of the shop.”

Two are Irish bracket clocks dating from 1730 and 1760. (The name refers to a tabletop clock also designed to sit in a wall-mounted bracket to allow for its hanging weights.)